Meagan Leas- Learning Theories and Technology Integration
Reflection on Existing Technology Integration Strategies
Directed instruction is simply that, me as a teacher, I am delivering the content to the students and they are receiving it. The focus is more on learning skills, methods, practice, and memorization. This is something I do often in my math class. I use guided notes so that we can focus more on them practicing the skills rather than them taking the notes. I have a Smart TV in my room that is also an interactive whiteboard. So I download the notes to the TV and I write their in different colors and then I save the document and upload them to our Canvas page for absent kids and everyone to be able to reference. The TV is the only technology I use in direct instruction. The students use graphing calculators and desmos for a lot of the concepts we are working with in Math 3. I also post videos from Khan Academy for students to reference. It seems to help when they get home and are lost in their notes. One goal for me is to video me teaching my lessons and posting them. This would give the students more chances to relearn the concepts.
Constructivist learning is the teacher building learning experiences so that the students generate their
own learning and as the teacher I step back and facilitate the process. This focus is more on group work
and critical thinking/ problem solving skills. In my STEM/ AVID class I am more here in my planning.
Currently we are doing our Spring Design Challenge, which is really just a problem-based learning
project. Our freshmen are working on building an affordable, eco-friendly tiny house for a client (the
teachers at the school). One of the requirements is a scale floor plan and model of the tiny house for
display. I am working on ways to integrate technology to enhance the experience. A few things we
have done already include making newsletters on Smore.com, videos on Cyber Bullying on Adobe
Spark, and infographics on Piktochart. On thing I love is that so often when students are asked to
present information, they go to a poster or a power point. So I do not allow those in my class. I like
for them to find new ways to show off their learning.
own learning and as the teacher I step back and facilitate the process. This focus is more on group work
and critical thinking/ problem solving skills. In my STEM/ AVID class I am more here in my planning.
Currently we are doing our Spring Design Challenge, which is really just a problem-based learning
project. Our freshmen are working on building an affordable, eco-friendly tiny house for a client (the
teachers at the school). One of the requirements is a scale floor plan and model of the tiny house for
display. I am working on ways to integrate technology to enhance the experience. A few things we
have done already include making newsletters on Smore.com, videos on Cyber Bullying on Adobe
Spark, and infographics on Piktochart. On thing I love is that so often when students are asked to
present information, they go to a poster or a power point. So I do not allow those in my class. I like
for them to find new ways to show off their learning.
Instructional Strategies That I Would Love to Try
One strategy that stood out to me is the discovery learning. This seems aligned to project-based
learning in that students build on the knowledge they already know and grow in the concepts. One
thing I see my math kids struggle with across the board is geometry. I think if in the lower grades we
can do more hands on and discovery learning in geometry those concepts may stick better. When we
start talking about triangles, quadrilaterals, and circles in Math2 and Math 3, the kids act like they
have never seen them before. I have to take four steps back to explain the basics like the names of
triangles before we can even move to what they need for our standards. Also, graphs and equations
crack me up with these kids. They work on linear and quadratic functions and graphs from 8th grade.
But in Math 3 my kids are like what is a zero. What does that mean, I have never seen that. Desmos
is a tool that has been helpful with making those connections. I would really like to find more ways to
connect what they already know to the concepts I am teaching. I find that when they “play” with the
graphs with guided question they discover things on their own and it sticks more.
learning in that students build on the knowledge they already know and grow in the concepts. One
thing I see my math kids struggle with across the board is geometry. I think if in the lower grades we
can do more hands on and discovery learning in geometry those concepts may stick better. When we
start talking about triangles, quadrilaterals, and circles in Math2 and Math 3, the kids act like they
have never seen them before. I have to take four steps back to explain the basics like the names of
triangles before we can even move to what they need for our standards. Also, graphs and equations
crack me up with these kids. They work on linear and quadratic functions and graphs from 8th grade.
But in Math 3 my kids are like what is a zero. What does that mean, I have never seen that. Desmos
is a tool that has been helpful with making those connections. I would really like to find more ways to
connect what they already know to the concepts I am teaching. I find that when they “play” with the
graphs with guided question they discover things on their own and it sticks more.
Comments
I love your Stem/AVID class. I love that the students have opportunities to create in those classes. I have found that high school students love to stick with their powerpoints. I have tried to get teachers and students to look at ways to use powerpoint or google slides differently. Like creating a picture book, fake snapchat, or vision board rather than just the slide show.